Healthcare Georgia Foundation has announced fourth-quarter grant awards to 20 nonprofit organizations totaling almost $1.5 million.

The grants include funding to three evidence-based approaches to infant mortality prevention that target adverse birth outcomes in Valdosta, Clayton County and Albany.

Citing the closures of hospitals and an emerging health care crisis in rural Georgia, Healthcare Georgia Foundation gave funding to study the rising disparities in health status and health care between urban and rural communities in Georgia.

“After 14 years of strategic grantmaking totaling more than $58 million, I am very pleased with our efforts to continuously identify and financially support high-performing health nonprofits in Georgia, including organizations who have no prior experience with the foundation,’’ said foundation President Gary D. Nelson.

Here’s a link to the grant recipients, which include Georgia Health News.